Marvel Studios has gone back to make a groundbreaking change to its Phase 4 timeline. Phase 4 of the MCU, which spanned from WandaVision in 2021 to The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special in 2022, continues to be a topic of discussion among fans. This largely has to do with its impact on the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, as key heroes from the Phase will make their grand return to the franchise to take on Doctor Doom.
One thing fans have been watching for years at this point, both in and out of Phase 4, has been the placement of each Marvel project on its ever-evolving timeline. Given the Multiversal flare of the MCU's ongoing story, timelines, and where each title falls upon them have been more scrutinized than ever. That is why a recent update from the super-powered studio has some fans furrowing their brows.
Marvel Studios has made MCU history with a recent change to the franchise's official timeline as it appears on Disney+. With Spider-Man: No Way Home coming to the platform in some territories, Marvel has gone back and retroactively plunked the web-slinging epic into the middle of the Phase 4 chronology. On the official Disney+ timeline order, No Way Home now sits between Eternals and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
This is the first time the studio has gone this far back to adjust the MCU order in this manner, as movies are typically added to the timeline near or at the very end upon their streaming debut.
As it stands, No Way Home remains off of Disney+ in the U.S., so American subscribers cannot see the change. However, this could be the first hint that the 2021 film will come to Disney+ stateside in the next few months.
Could More MCU Timeline Changes Be On the Way?
Because most Marvel Studios projects are released on Disney+ (and thus enter the timeline) in the order they are released, this groundbreaking move, thanks to No Way Home's arrival on the service, is not something fans should expect in any way.
It will be rare for the studio to reach back as far as this to place a movie on the MCU timeline retroactively. Of course, there is always the chance that the Marvel brain trust moves a title already on the timeline as things are recontextualized within the universe, but even that feels like something that will be few and far between.
One project that could follow No Way Home's lead moving forward is this year's Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Set to be released in MCU Phase 6, the upcoming Spidey adventure is yet another Sony Pictures/Marvel Studios joint production. This means that it will also have to navigate the third-party streaming agreements that Sony has in place.
So, fans should not be surprised if, several years from now, Brand New Day is blazing a similar sort of trail, not being added to the MCU's Phase 6 timeline until well into Phase 7 or even 8.
